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Sri Lanka calls on Human Rights Council
to challenge Israel's policy of Impunity
The Permanent Mission
of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
24 January 2008
The Human Rights Council held its sixth Special Session on "Human
Rights Violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent ones in occupied
Gaza and the West Bank town of Nablus", on 23 - 24 January 2008.
The Special Session adopted a resolution against Israel with thirty
(30) votes in favour, and one (1) against. Fifteen (15) members of the
Council abstained from voting.
The Special Session was requested by Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia,
Brazil, Cuba, China, Djibouti, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia,
Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, Sri Lanka and Uruguay.
Following is the full text of the statement made by the Ambassador
and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, H.E.
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, who is also a Vice-President of the Human Rights
Council:
"Thank you Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner,
Sri Lanka unambiguously recognizes the right of Israel to exist,
and to do so behind secure boundaries. It recognizes the right of Israel
to self-defence. However, Mr. President, what we have seen unfold before
the eyes of the world is not the exercise of the legitimate right of
self-defence. What we have seen is far in excess, is grossly disproportionate
to the attacks, which we condemn, the attacks on unarmed Israeli civilians
by certain resistance groups in Occupied Palestine. We do not believe
that the legitimate right of resistance enjoyed by the Palestinian Movement
should extend to targeting wittingly unarmed civilians in Israeli towns
and cities.
Mr. President, what is unfolding is, as has been referred to
here, a policy of collective punishment. It is bitterly ironic that
Israel, having practiced for decades a policy of invasion, of annexation,
of occupation, should now add a policy of the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people. The people of Israel know very well, given their own history,
the horrors of such ghettoization.
But what do we see today? We see a wall, which former US President
Jimmy Carter has quite rightly described, as a wall of Apartheid. We
see the breaking up of the contiguity of the Palestinian territory.
We see a policy which has been callous towards women and children. We
see scenes, which if they were to continue, could not but remind us
of the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two. We see a policy
practiced, which, Mr. President, is the kind of crime that we read of
in the Old Testament, a situation which led the Lord to tell Moses to
tell the Pharaoh, "Let my people go". It is a repetition of
the same compilation of crimes and occupation, and oppression.
While saying this Mr. President, we must also be mindful that
what we are seeing today in Gaza, was paved, was made possible, by those
elements of the international community which remain silent, and were
even complicit, when the policy of starving Gaza of financial supplies,
of finance was enunciated after the elections which led to the legitimate
Hamas government being installed. We may not agree with every armed
act of Hamas. But it was an elected administration.
And those who were silent when Hamas legislators were abducted
by the State of Israel, those who were silent when the policy of financial
blockade was started, are themselves morally responsible for what is
happening today, for the horrors of today. We cannot equate, as some
try to do, the occupier and the occupied; the annexationist and the
annexed; the aggressor and the aggressed.
We believe Mr. President, that this policy of impunity that Israel
has enjoyed should be challenged by the Human Rights Council. If the
Human Rights Council does not stand for an end to this impunity of state
terrorism, the impunity of the policy of collective punishment, then
what do we in the Human Rights Council stand for?
Thank you Mr. President."
In the general debate, delegations deplored the dire humanitarian situation
in the Gaza Strip, and called for an immediate end to Israel's disproportionate
use of military force, as well as the lifting of the siege of Gaza.
Speakers agreed that they had to address a clear message to Israel;
the impunity which it enjoyed encouraged Israel to pursue its violations.
A speaker said it was deeply frustrating that those incidents had occurred
at a time when new political initiatives, both in the European Union
and in the United States, were taking place to revive the stalled peace
process. Many concurred that such actions undermined the process, while
others felt it belied Israel's real aim to deliberately abort all Arab
and international peace efforts. A number of speakers expressed concern
about indiscriminate attacks that harmed civilians on both sides. A
partial approach to the current situation, without a call for moderation
to all parties involved in the hostilities, could jeopardize the legitimacy
of the Council, as well as the efficacy of any decision taken on the
issue, a speaker warned. All speakers, however, agreed in calling on
Israel to guarantee free access of humanitarian services and supplies
to Gaza.
Speaking in the general debate were representatives of Syria (on behalf
of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference),
Egypt (on behalf of the African Group), Cuba (on behalf of the Non-Aligned
Movement), Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union), Indonesia, Egypt,
India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Zambia, China, Jordan, Nicaragua, the
Russian Federation, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Senegal, Nigeria, Sri Lanka,
Brazil, Qatar, South Africa, Switzerland, Bolivia, Canada and Angola.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENS SPECIAL SESSION ON VIOLATIONS STEMMING FROM
ISRAELI INCURSIONS IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN
TERRITORY
www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/8FDBF12E3EF5DDC4C12573D9007606C7?opendocument
Webcast : http://www.un.org:80/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=016
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